- District court judge rules Texas drag show ban unconstitutional
Source: United Press International
“A U.S. district court has blocked Texas from banning drag performances as unconstitutional, ruling that the solution to the problem is for those who find such events offensive to just not attend. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 12 into law in June 2023 to ban ‘sexually oriented performances’ via civil penalties on businesses that host them and criminal penalties on performers. It has been debated in the courts since, with a court ruling it unconstitutional in 2023 and an appeals court in February allowing it to take effect while sending the case back to the district court for review. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge David Hittner, a Reagan appointee who issued the 2023 ruling, declared Senate Bill 12 an unconstitutional restriction on speech and ordered that the state be permanently enjoined from enforcing it.” (08/26/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/08/26/judge-blocks-Texas-drag-ban/1651787727211/
- Swiss to Vote on Whether to Tighten Neutrality, End Peacetime Cooperation With NATO
Source: US News & World Report
“Swiss voters will decide in a referendum next month whether to approve a more restrictive form of neutrality that would block their country from imposing economic sanctions or cooperating with NATO. Posters featuring doves of peace and asking voters to reject war have appeared across the Alpine nation in a campaign that has won the backing of the Kremlin but has raised fears that it could isolate Switzerland from its European neighbours. Opinion surveys suggest voters will reject the proposal …. Swiss neutrality, internationally recognised since 1815 and part of the country’s constitution since 1848, kept Switzerland out of both world wars. But this status is under threat after Switzerland imposed sanctions on Russia over its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, said Christoph Blocher, a veteran politician and backer of the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP) which supports the campaign.” (08/26/26)
- TX: Talarico wants to unearth Paxton’s depositions to keep focus on opponent’s past in Senate race
Source: SFGate
“James Talarico, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Texas, wants to reveal depositions involving Ken Paxton, his Republican opponent, as part of an ongoing effort to keep the focus on Paxton’s history of scandals. The depositions involve a civil case where Unity Resources, a mineral assets company, was accused of fraud. Paxton was connected to Unity but not a defendant, and the case was settled. Talarico’s campaign confirmed it asked a court on Wednesday to release the documents. The Democratic state representative is counting on voters recoiling from past accusations against Paxton, the Texas attorney general, even though similar tactics have failed in previous campaigns. … Talarico also has talked about how Paxton was impeached, although Paxton was later acquitted, and how he faced criminal charges for securities fraud, which ended with an agreement with prosecutors involving restitution payments but no admission of guilt.” (08/26/26)
- Trump regime violated court order on attempt to rig elections using USPS, judge says
Source: Axios
“A Massachusetts judge ruled Tuesday that the Trump administration violated a nationwide injunction by finalizing a rule that would significantly overhaul mail voting if allowed to take effect. The order allows the Trump administration to publish the rule Wednesday, but the U.S. Postal Service remains barred from making the dramatic changes to mail-in ballots. … Tuesday’s ruling came in response to a motion from the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts asking Talwani to enforce her nationwide injunction blocking the new mail-ballot rules. The injunction bars the administration from directing USPS to reject ballot mail that doesn’t comply with the administration’s new design requirements until after the 2026 midterms.” (08/25/26)
https://www.axios.com/2026/08/25/usps-mail-voting-rule-injunction
- German airport worker dies of malaria after “mosquito arrives on plane”
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“A Frankfurt Airport worker has died of malaria after a rare outbreak led to six employees contracting the serious infection spread by mosquitoes. It is believed the mosquitoes arrived at Germany’s busiest airport on a plane, according to German public health officials. The remaining five infected individuals are receiving medical treatment, a spokesperson for airport operator Fraport said. Traps have been installed at the airport and mosquitoes captured will be analysed in a laboratory to determine their species and origin. ‘Sadly, we must confirm that one employee has died as a result of the infection,’ the Fraport spokesperson told the BBC. ‘We have provided comprehensive information to all employees and encourage them to consult a doctor if they experience any symptoms.'” (08/26/26)
- Pakistan: Hospital fire kills 14 newborns
Source: CBC News [Canadian state media]
“A fire erupted early Wednesday in a nursery for newborns at a major government hospital in Pakistan’s capital, killing 14 babies, according to hospital officials and the government. The Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad housed at least 15 newborns in the nursery from the fire that began about 6:45 a.m. local time after an air-conditioning unit compressor exploded inside the nursery on the third floor, hospital and rescue officials said. The fire was confined to the nursery in the gynecology ward, while the rest of the hospital remained unaffected and there were no other injuries reported, according to hospital officials and witnesses. Television footage showed rescue workers using ladders to reach the area through broken windows.” (08/26/26)
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/fire-pakistan-hospital-newborns-9.7320737
- Testimony concludes in Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial; Jury to hear closing arguments Thursday
Source: SFGate
“Trial testimony concluded Wednesday in the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy, a mother accused of strangling her three young children in a case that has drawn attention to postpartum mental health. Closing arguments are expected to begin Thursday, before the jury begins deliberating. Clancy, 36, has pleaded not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility, with her lawyers arguing she was experiencing postpartum psychosis when she killed 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan Clancy at the family’s home in coastal Duxbury, Massachusetts, in January 2023. The rare mental illness is linked to the stress, sleep deprivation and hormonal changes that follow childbirth.” (08/26/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/fbi-psychiatrist-returns-as-lindsay-clancy-murder-22404308.php
- OK: Trump-backed Mazzei defeats Drummond in GOP gubernatorial runoff
Source: The Hill
“Former state Sen. Mike Mazzei (R) is projected to defeat state Attorney General Gentner Drummond (R) in the Republican primary runoff for Oklahoma governor — a win for President Trump who backed Mazzei in the contest, according to Decision Desk HQ. Drummond and Mazzei, a financial planner, were vying for the GOP nod to succeed term-limited Gov. Kevin Stitt (R). It’s a critical victory for Trump after several of his initial primary picks in Iowa, Georgia, Minnesota, South Carolina and Wyoming lost their elections earlier this year, raising questions about the power of the president’s endorsement.” (08/25/26)
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/6042137-mazzei-wins-oklahoma-gop-runoff/
- Dolly Parton, 1946-2026
Source: New York Times
“Dolly Parton, the country singer, songwriter, entertainer and entrepreneur whose rags-to-riches story, outsize persona and prodigious vision and talent placed her in a class by herself, died on Tuesday in Nashville. She was 80. … Dolly Rebecca Parton was born on Jan. 19, 1946, the fourth of 12 children of Robert Lee and Avie Lee (Owens) Parton, in a one-room cabin on the banks of the Little Pigeon River in Sevier County, Tenn. … Ms. Parton made her recording debut in 1959, the same year she made her first appearance at the Grand Ole Opry. In 1962, she signed a songwriting deal with Tree International Publishing (now part of Sony Music Publishing). Two years later, she became the first person in her family to graduate from high school. … Ms. Parton was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001, and was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2005. In 2022, she was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.” (08/25/26)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/25/arts/music/dolly-parton-dead.html
- Iranian, Omani regimes outline plan for temporary Hormuz shipping lane
Source: CNN
“Iran and Oman outlined a proposal Tuesday to jointly establish a temporary shipping channel through the Strait of Hormuz, according to regional officials, after weeks of fraught discussions between the two countries. … Omani Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi visited Iran and held consultations with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, the state-run Oman News Agency (ONA) reported earlier. After the meeting, the Omani foreign minister said he was ‘hopeful’ both nations would ‘soon announce a temporary corridor’ for the strait. … Qatar Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held a telephone call and discussed the proposed temporary shipping channel …. Qatar has previously voiced support for the efforts between Oman and Iran to reach an agreement over the Strait of Hormuz, despite US President Donald Trump’s threat to attack Oman if it interferes with US operations in the strategic waterway.” (08/26/26)
https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/26/world/live-news/iran-war-trump
- US Secret Service suspends top spokesman and two others as misconduct mystery grows
Source: Independent [UK]
“Three non-law-enforcement U.S. Secret Service officials have been placed on administrative leave following the launch of an internal inquiry by the agency’s professional standards office. The three personnel were working in non-operational roles when the inquiry into potential misconduct began, according to reports from the agency’s public information office. The specific grounds for the action remain unclear as the Office of Professional Responsibility carries out its formal review. Among those suspended is Anthony Guglielmi, the agency’s chief of communications. The move follows disclosures last month that a member of Vice President JD Vance’s security team came under scrutiny over allegations tied to a suspected news leak, the U.S. Secret Service said Thursday.” (08/26/26)
- Military enslavement fears grip Russians as Kremlin’s forced recruitment spikes
Source: euronews [EU]
“Russian security forces are detaining civilians off the streets and pressuring them to sign military contracts, as reports emerge that the Kremlin is preparing for a new wave of mobilisation for its ongoing all-out war in Ukraine. In mid-August, the Russian human rights project Idite lesom received 14 appeals from people who said security forces had detained them and forced or pressured them into signing military contracts, either at police stations or directly at military enlistment offices. … Russian officials have denied any plans for mobilisation. ‘We do not need mass mobilisation at the moment; it is neither planned nor expected,’ Russia’s permanent representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya said on Friday. He added, ‘As far as I know.’ Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday described reports about mobilisation preparations as attempts to ‘stir up the situation ideologically’ inside Russia.” (08/25/26)
- SC: Graham wins GOP primary runoff to replace brother in US Senate
Source: ABC News
“Sen. Darline Graham — a political newcomer appointed to the seat held by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham — will win a special GOP primary runoff to replace her brother on the South Carolina ballot, the Associated Press projected Tuesday. Graham, who was endorsed by President Donald Trump, defeated Rep. Ralph Norman, a staunch conservative and member of the hard line Freedom Caucus, who had also advanced to the runoff, following South Carolina’s special Senate primary earlier this month. Graham will face Democratic candidate Annie Andrews in November.” (08/25/26)
- CA: Judge upholds Avenal recall of mayor, three councilmembers
Source: Fresno Bee
“The legal battle among the City of Avenal, Kings County and recall organizers over the city council recall election on April 28, came to an end Monday after Kings County Superior Court upheld the election results, finding irregularities did not affect the outcome or violate legal procedures. The court ruled defendants — recalled Mayor Alvaro Preciado and Councilmembers Leticia Gamez, Pablo Hernandez and David Reynosa — unlawfully held office as members of the Avenal City Council. The court declared those four seats vacant as of May 28. … The recalled officials had refused to step down despite the election’s certification on May 28, leading to a legal battle. The city claimed the recall process was illegal.” (08/25/26)
https://www.fresnobee.com/news/politics-government/article316996464.html
- Germany: Third drone and suspected military explosives found near Leipzig airport
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“German investigators uncovered a third drone and suspected military explosives thought to be connected to an attempted attack on Leipzig airport, local media have reported. The drone was discovered in Kabelsketal, just to the west of the airport, along with about 50g (1.8oz) of a suspected military explosive on 14 August, 10 days after the unsuccessful sabotage. Leipzig airport is a cargo and military logistics hub used by Nato and Ukraine’s Antonov Airlines for transporting military supplies. The office of the prosecutor general, which is leading the investigation, declined to comment on Tuesday. But the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said the government would soon provide information about who it believed was behind the drone attacks.” (08/25/26)
- Study: At least 1 in 4 NFL players gets CTE
Source: Seattle Times
“Since the degenerative brain disease known as CTE was first scientifically linked to football about 20 years ago, and as hundreds of former professional football players have been diagnosed with the disease after their deaths, a haunting question has lingered: Just how many NFL players will end up with CTE? New data provides a sobering indication: At least 1 in 4 of all the people who have played in the NFL might expect to end up with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, according to a study of hundreds of cases over a recent six-year period. … Researchers involved in this study, published Tuesday in The BMJ, hope to produce a subsequent paper in the coming months estimating the overall rate of CTE in all NFL players at the time of their death.” (08/25/26)
- OpenAI bans Russian ChatGPT accounts used in covert misinformation campaign
Source: CNBC
“OpenAI has banned a cluster of ChatGPT accounts originating in Russia that it said were being used to support a covert online influence campaign to spread misinformation. The company discovered the issue after investigating AI-generated social media posts, which led it to a ‘much broader influence operation,’ OpenAI said in a blog post on Tuesday. The campaign was ‘built around a website containing copied and misattributed academic work, a ‘sovereignty’ index that cast Russia in a favourable light, and efforts to disguise the operators’ Russian origins,’ the company added. It’s the latest incident of pro-Russia actors using AI to spread misinformation. OpenAI does not allow access to its models in Russia, but the company said VPNs were used to disguise location.” (08/25/26)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/25/openai-russia-chatgpt-influence-campaign.html
- Trump says all mines cleared from Strait of Hormuz
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“US President Donald Trump has said that the US Navy has removed or detonated all mines in the Strait of Hormuz – the vital waterway which Iran has largely closed since the beginning of the war in the Middle East. ‘Iran has been notified that any ship or boat placing new mines will be immediately and systematically destroyed,’ Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. There is no comment from Iran. Closure of the strait has caused wild fluctuations in the price of oil on world markets. Trump has often said the US has control of the area – but Iran has fired against vessels it says have sought to cross without its permission. Some 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas used to transit the Strait of Hormuz before the war, which began on 28 February with US and Israeli air strikes against Iran.” (08/25/26)
- Hottest ocean temperature recorded as “super” El Nino forms
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“Scientists have recorded the highest temperature ever measured in the world’s oceans, as climate change combines with a powerful El Nino in the tropical Pacific. The global average sea-surface temperature hit a record 21.1 degrees Celsius (70 Fahrenheit) on August 22, according to Europe’s Earth observation agency Copernicus, which has been tracking the metric daily since 1979. The previous single-day record of 21.09 degrees was measured in March 2024. … The August record is particularly worrying because global ocean temperatures are typically highest in March and April, after the Austral summer, Copernicus said.” (08/25/26)
- Federal judge rejects Maxwell “miscarriage of justice” claims and bid for prison release
Source: SFGate
“Ghislaine Maxwell’s bid to overturn her sex trafficking conviction and be freed from prison was rejected by a federal judge Tuesday who said the claims by Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend and longtime associate that new evidence had emerged were ‘demonstrably meritless’. Maxwell filed a habeas petition last December seeking to set aside her conviction and free her from a 20-year prison sentence, claiming exonerating information was withheld and false testimony presented at her trial, resulting in a ‘complete miscarriage of justice’. Judge Paul A. Engelmayer rejected her arguments, saying in his written ruling that ‘all or almost all are frivolous’ and that she had presented nothing that could upend the outcome of her trial.” (08/25/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/federal-judge-rejects-ghislaine-maxwell-s-22402526.php
- Why Iran Might Escalate
Source: Foreign Policy
by Saeid Jafari“It now appears that instead of continuing bombing campaigns, the United States is relying on economic warfare and a naval blockade to secure Tehran’s capitulation. For Washington, this would minimize the risk to its forces and the pressure on its munitions stockpiles. For Tehran, in turn, this disparity of costs represents a challenge. As a result, Iranian political and military figures have called for Iran to respond with a more offensive military doctrine. They argue that Iran should now take steps to change the situation and make the United States pay much more for keeping the blockade in place.” (08/26/26)
- Why Warrantless Flock Safety Cameras Threaten American Freedom and How Local Towns Can Fix It
Source: Karl Dickey’s Freedom Vanguard
by Karl Dickey“This year, 136 communities have rejected or banned the technology, and citizens are outraged, as evidenced by over two dozen states taking direct action against 193 camera installations. Mass surveillance fails the practical test because it treats every law-abiding neighbor as a perpetual suspect while government expands the network with automated police drones. Genuine public safety depends on focused, accountable law enforcement rather than dragnet data collection.” (08/26/26)
https://palmbeachexaminer.substack.com/p/why-warrantless-flock-safety-cameras
- The GOP midterm convention is for an audience of one. Trump.
Source: USA Today
by Chris Brennan“Some political pitches are more challenging than others. And some, like the pitch the Republican Party will try to make to midterm voters in two weeks, are damn near impossible. The Republican National Committee is hosting a ‘midterm convention’ on Sept. 9 and 10 in Dallas ‘to celebrate the accomplishments of President Donald J. Trump, showcase the strength of the Republican Party and its slate of candidates, and unite Americans around a bold vision for the future.’ If that sounds disconnected from reality, then you are probably in close touch with reality. Trump is so deeply unpopular that the convention platform and attention that he clearly covets could backfire for his party. … This is the state of the Republican Party, distorted by Trump into his own MAGA image, always boasting with blustering bunk, always eager to deny the truth that everyone can see and hear.” (08/26/26)
- The US military is at war with its own newspaper
Source: Expression
by Jacob Gaba“At the height of World War II, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower didn’t want the military’s independent newspaper to become a propaganda tool. He expected his subordinates to keep their ‘hands off’ Stars and Stripes. More than 80 years later, the Pentagon has fired the newspaper’s leaders after they publicly defended that very principle. Last week, the Pentagon fired Erik Slavin, editor-in-chief of Stars and Stripes, for ‘insubordination.’ Slavin says he was fired for telling CBS in a recent interview that it would be a ‘red line’ if the government told him, ‘Don’t run a perfectly accurate story. Run this instead. Here it is, written by the Pentagon.'” (08/26/26)
https://expression.fire.org/p/the-us-military-is-at-war-with-its
- Can Democrats Take Advantage of How Much Everyone Hates Trump’s Iran War?
Source: Common Dreams
by Tom Gallagher“Amidst the tragifarce of President Donald Trump’s apparently off-the-top-of-his-head war on Iran may lie a silver lining for the 2028 presidential election—a silver lining that comes with two big ifs. One, of course, is the if that goes with everything involved with the race: If there is a fair election. The if specific to the hoped-for silver lining is if there is a candidate willing and able to make use of it. Ever since Gallup started public opinion polls, when it has come to questions of war, they’ve shown the American public favoring every one at the start, until now, with Donald Trump launching the first war to encounter immediate objection from a majority of the American public.” (08/26/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/can-democrats-ever-be-the-anti-war-party
- Friendship With America Can Be Fatal
Source: The American Conservative
by Ted Snider“Henry Kissinger famously (if apocryphally) said, ‘It may be dangerous to be America’s enemy, but to be America’s friend is fatal.’ This may be the year the world finally got the message. President Donald Trump said he wanted his legacy to be ‘the wars that we end—and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into.’ It won’t be. Instead, he will be remembered by history as the president who squandered trust in and respect for Washington and brought the post–Cold War era of American hegemony to an end.” (08/26/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/friendship-with-trumps-america-can-be-fatal/
- Hume’s Political Mechanisms
Source: Law & Liberty
by Aaron Alexander Zubia“David Hume thought philosophically about politics. If he had not, John Witherspoon, the Princeton educator who taught a future president, a future vice president, as well as future judges, senators, and representatives, would not have recommended his writings to his students. Thomas Reid, the Scottish philosopher, would not have developed an entire system of thought—taught in Scotland and the United States for the next century—as a direct response to Hume. Theologians, such as Jonathan Edwards, and college presidents, such as Timothy Dwight, Edwards’ grandson, would not have wrestled with and publicly commented on Hume’s philosophy. Had Hume not thought philosophically about politics, we would not be reading about him today.” (08/26/26)
- The Dollar Was Always the Leash
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Thomas Karat“In 2014 the French bank BNP Paribas pleaded guilty to processing transactions for Iran, Cuba, and Sudan and paid an $8.9 billion settlement, its dollar-clearing business barred for a year. No French court convicted it. No French statute was broken. A European institution was fined nearly nine billion dollars by a foreign government for conduct that was legal where it occurred. Every treasurer in every bank outside the United States understood the message, and has behaved accordingly ever since. It was not meant to be this. When the dollar emerged from the last world war as the axis of global settlement, its dominance was a matter of commercial convenience—the currency everyone happened to hold because everyone else held it too. Convenience hardened into infrastructure, and infrastructure, in the hands of a state that noticed what it possessed, hardened into leverage.” (08/26/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/the-dollar-was-always-the-leash
- Why Iran Ruffles the Feathers of the United States
Source: Antiwar.com
by M Reza Behnam“Strip away the diplomatic briefings, Congressional hearings and the endless cable news loops about centrifuges, regional proxies and cyber attacks, and you hit a raw unvarnished nerve. What truly disturbs the United States about the Islamic Republic is not its policies, its rhetoric or even its nuclear ambitions. It is Iran’s audacity to exist completely outside the American orbit; and make it work.” (08/26/26)
- Hong Kong Shows How a Free Society Can Become a Dictatorship
Source: American Greatness
by Sasha Gong“Can communism come to America? Until recently, most Americans would have dismissed the question as alarmist, even absurd. The United States has enjoyed constitutional government for nearly 250 years. Its citizens are accustomed to elections, private property, free speech, independent courts, and a press that openly challenges those in power. Surely, many assume, a people raised in freedom would never tolerate dictatorship. The rapid rise of Democratic Socialism has made the question less theoretical. The movement draws strength from the same seductive promise that has accompanied every socialist and communist experiment: government can eliminate inequality by taking greater control over economic life and redistributing wealth more justly. Anyone with even limited knowledge of communist history knows what follows. Equality is promised, but scarcity is delivered. The old upper class is denounced, but a new political class emerges with privileges unavailable to ordinary citizens.” (08/26/26)
https://amgreatness.com/2026/08/26/hong-kong-shows-how-a-free-society-can-become-a-dictatorship/
- Exorbitant and Rising Debt Is a National Security Threat
Source: Independent Institute
by Ivan Eland“The average voter, from personal experience or attempted avoidance thereof, is probably aware that excessive debt is bad, but he or she may be less clear about its deleterious national economic consequences. Even less obvious are the national security ramifications.” (08/25/26)
- The Trump Trainwreck
Source: Liberal Currents
by Nicholas Grossman“The president’s choices at home and abroad are boosting Democrats’ chances in November.” (08/26/26)
- The Supreme Court needs to remind Trump he has no power over elections
Source: Los Angeles Times
by Erwin Chemerinsky“The Supreme Court’s ruling on Monday allowing President Trump’s executive order on mail voting to go forward is stunningly insensitive to the context: Trump is trying to exercise control over elections when he has absolutely no authority to do so. In one sense, the justices decided nothing, simply saying it was too soon for federal courts to get involved. But in a more important way, the court could have and should have put an emphatic end to the president’s efforts to try to regulate voting operations that are legally the domain of state governments.” (08/25/26)
- The Data Center Backlash Is Just a New Moral Panic
Source: The Dispatch
by Jonah Goldberg“Not all concerns about data centers are so crazy or even unreasonable. They do use a lot of water, though not nearly as much as some claim. They can cause electricity rates to go up. They’re ugly. And, if you’re freaking out about what AI will do to your job or to American society, taking it out on data centers makes a certain amount of sense. Politicians, as a class, tend to indulge moral panics. Which is why it’s no surprise that Republicans and Democrats alike are racing to get on the ‘right’ side of the issue.” (08/26/26)
https://thedispatch.com/article/data-centers-artificial-intelligence-moral-panic/
- Government Intervention in the Energy Market
Source: Show-Me Institute
by Avery Frank“A few weeks ago, the City of St. Louis issued a proposal that would require new data center developments to use renewable energy for their operations, among many other requirements. There is now a conditional waiver process to sidestep the renewable requirement if the developer can prove they and Ameren can’t meet it, which is a slight improvement. From a free-market perspective, the flaws of the proposal are clear. The city would be selecting certain types of energy (in this case solar and wind) in the name of ‘clean air’ while excluding from consideration not only energy from coal and natural gas, but even nuclear energy, which also has zero emissions.” (08/25/26)
https://showmeinstitute.org/article/energy/government-intervention-in-the-energy-market/
- The House Always Wins, Even on House-less Kalshi
Source: The American Prospect
by Eleanor Davis-Diver“‘In casinos, the house always wins. With Kalshi, there is no house. We don’t win when our customers lose,’ the nation’s leading prediction market states on its FAQ page, differentiating itself from traditional sports betting. According to its proponents, prediction markets operate on a ‘peer-to-peer’ structure where, instead of a house, the ‘counterparty’ on a bet is another regular person, just like you or me. ‘Unlike sportsbooks Kalshi doesn’t set the odds, other users do’, claims an ad spot currently playing across television and digital platforms, featuring the world’s longest sandwich. These other ‘users’ are known as market makers, a common feature of financial markets, who continuously quote prices for everyone else to ensure consistent liquidity and smooth trading. But contrary to what the advertisement implies, most market makers are not ordinary people but highly advanced trading institutions.” (08/26/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/08/26/house-always-wins-kalshi-prediction-markets/
- Massachusetts has a better approach for book challenges: Due process
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Isabelle Brito“Parents and community members have every right to criticize what their schools make available and ask officials to reconsider particular books. That’s free speech, too. The problem arises when one individual or group’s political views determine which ideas students can explore in their school library. Massachusetts’ Freedom to Read Law offers a promising solution, one that FIRE has long called for: due process for books. That means fair and clear procedures for reviewing challenged library materials.” (08/25/26)
https://www.fire.org/news/massachusetts-has-better-approach-book-challenges-due-process
- Whose “NAP” Anyway?
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Patrick Carroll“A considerable portion of libertarian infighting seems to stem from the largely unrecognized fact that there are two different ways to interpret the non-aggression principle (NAP). On the surface, the NAP seems clear: aggression is wrong. But there is a deontological way to interpret this and a consequentialist way, and these interpretations are mutually exclusive. Deontological reasoning argues people should refrain from acts of aggression, even if that leads to a less free society. Consequentialist reasoning argues people should act to create as free a society as possible, even if that means using aggression.” (08/25/26)
- JD Vance’s Interest in Huey Long Should Be a Red Flag for Conservatives
Source: Reason
by Eric Boehm“As a governor and senator, Huey Long is best remembered for his radical proposals to redistribute wealth by force and for criticizing President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s ‘New Deal’ as not expansive or progressive enough. So when Vice President J.D. Vance says out loud that he finds Long ‘great’ and ‘interesting,’ that’s worth keeping in mind. While speaking in Ohio last week, Vance invoked Long’s famous ‘Every Man A King’ slogan and hailed Long as a ‘great Southern populist’ who was ‘an interesting guy; kind of a crazy guy.’ … The moment is illustrative both because of Vance’s choice to invoke Long by name—this was a deliberate choice made in a prewritten speech, not some off-the-cuff remark—and for how the vice president seems to have misunderstood the speech he was referencing.” (08/25/26)
- More Military Murders on the High Seas
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger“The U.S. military has just announced that it has carried out two more murders on the high seas near South America. This now brings the military’s high-seas murders to more than 200 people. Mind you, in its announcement, the military did not use the term ‘murder.’ The announcement stated that the military is simply enforcing the U.S. drug war. But make no mistake about it: What the military is doing is engaging in state-sponsored murder, which is ordinarily a felony offense. … Under America’s criminal-justice system, the police are not permitted to kill people they suspect of violating federal drug laws. They are required to instead take them into custody, indict them, and prosecute them. The U.S military does none of these things. It just murders the people it suspects, based on top-secret information, of violating federal drug laws.” (08/25/26)
https://www.fff.org/2026/08/25/more-military-murders-on-the-high-seas/
- Say It With Me Again: Trump’s Tariffs are Taxes on Americans
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp“Trade wars are odd in that the dueling governments’ weapon of choice is confiscatory taxation imposed on their own citizens. ‘I’m mad at you — I’m going to break my son’s arm.’ ‘Oh yeah? Well fine, I’ll break my wife’s leg — how ya like them apples?’ ‘You’ve done it now — I’m dousing my whole family in gasoline and lighting a match!’ When I point out how idiotic all that is, a few doofs come back at me with: ‘Buy American — problem solved.’ But no, buying American doesn’t solve your problem as a consumer. You’re going to pay more, whether you pay it directly to Uncle Sam or not.” (08/25/26)
- Are public schools unconstitutional? A Nebraska court will decide.
Source: Washington Post
by Corey DeAngelis“In 2021, Columbia University law professor Philip Hamburger argued that the U.S. public school system violates the First Amendment. ‘Education,’ he wrote, ‘consists mostly in speech, and parents have a right under the First Amendment to exercise authority over what their children hear.’ Forcing families to accept government messaging — or pay a steep price to escape it — amounts to unconstitutional pressure. A lawsuit filed in Nebraska on Aug. 13 brings that argument into court — and could open a path toward universal school choice. Justin Jacobsen and Timothy and Joanna Menter, parents in the Lincoln Public Schools district, are suing state and local officials in Lancaster County District Court. Represented by the New Civil Liberties Alliance, they are challenging Nebraska’s combination of compulsory education and public-school-only funding.” (08/25/26)
- If Big Tech Needs a New Power Plant, It Should Pay for the Whole Damn Thing
Source: Common Dreams
by Joshua WJ Brown“There is a remarkably simple test for whether the AI boom is actually as economically transformative as its boosters say it is: Make the companies building it pay their own damn electricity bill. Not just the meter at the server warehouse. The whole bill. If a hyperscale data center requires a new power plant, transmission line, substation, distribution upgrade, water system, or grid-reliability backstop, put that cost on the project that caused it. If the economics still work, excellent. Build it. If they don’t, then the public has just learned something extremely important about the business model.” [editor’s note: And if that happens, as it should, this guy will be the loudest whiner that those data centers should then be required to give their excess power generated to everyone else free, because REASONS – TLK] (08/25/26)
- Reports of Increases in Problematic Cannabis Use Don’t Mean We Should Return to Prohibition
Source: Cato Institute
by Jeffrey A Singer“When Americans repealed Prohibition in 1933, alcohol consumption did not immediately settle into the pattern we recognize today. Consumption rose substantially over the following decades, eventually peaked around 1981 and then declined for more than a decade. … Along the way, Americans learned to live with legal alcohol. Knowledge, customs, and social norms evolved around its responsible use. We learned to distinguish drinking from drunkenness. We came to strongly disapprove of drinking and driving and of drinking on the job. People learned to recognize their own limits, and friends and families learned to recognize when someone’s drinking was becoming a problem. None of those norms required us to conclude that, because alcohol can cause addiction, disease, accidents and death, we should prohibit adults from drinking it. Cannabis may be undergoing a similar period of adjustment.” (08/25/26)
- Bond vigilantes for Dummies
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Miles Saltiel“A few weeks ago, the Labour back-bencher, Paula Baker, was held to have disgraced herself with remarks revealing that she hadn’t much of a clue about the bond market. There have been similar such remarks from Zarah Sultana and Nadia Whittome, other Labour back-benchers. Cue for much chuntering by those claiming to know better. But this is silly. Why should Labour back-benchers turn up knowing all about the bond market? They have recently been hired to a new job with new responsibilities. Like the rest of us, they have to learn on the job. Come to think of it, why should you, the reader of this blog, know such things? You’re all about politicians, polls and programmes. Even the freest market of inclinations are no education in the gobbledegook of bonds, with its weird vocabulary and unintuitive arithmetic. So, here’s the ‘for Dummies’ story.” (08/25/26)
- Repair, not revenge, in post-autocratic Hungary
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff“In countries with eroding democracies, many people have watched Hungary over the past three months make rapid reforms under a new prime minister, Péter Magyar. In April, he and his center-right Tisza party won a landslide election victory that ousted Viktor Orbán. The pro-Russia conservative leader ruled for 20 years in total, leaving a web of corrupt cronyism in highly compromised state institutions. Mr. Magyar’s reforms have so far required a nuanced distinction between seeking personal retribution for the closest supporters of Mr. Orbán and merely holding them accountable for misdeeds. ‘One thing we … cannot do,’ said András Baka, a former head of the Supreme Court who took over the largely ceremonial position of president this month, is ‘build the new Hungary on revenge.’ ne liberal newspaper, HVG, noted that Mr. Magyar’s supporters are ‘noticeably impatient’ and that ‘their demand for accountability is by no means free from a desire for revenge’.” (08/24/26)
- Goose/Gander/Flock
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob“We are told that we have no expectation of privacy on public roads. But is a Flock of a.i.-backed cameras the kind of thing we want spying on us, tracking our every move? While we say that ‘it’s only a conspiracy if they do it in secret,’ what is it when the people who seek to destroy the last vestiges of our privacy demand their own privacy even as they plot against us?” (08/25/26)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/08/25/goose-gander-flock/
- Hasan Piker: American Jews Asking for Attacks on Them by Supporting Israel
Source: Jonathan Turley
by Jonathan Turley“I recently wrote about Hasan Piker leading a hatefest in San Francisco with thousands mocking the death of Charlie Kirk. He is now being condemned for a livestream statement suggesting that American Jews are asking to be attacked if they continue to support Israel. On the Aug. 20 livestream, Mr. Piker declared: ‘If Jews in America keep putting this idea out there that they are singularly invested in Israel, eventually someone’s going to come around and take action, not against the state of Israel — mind you — but against American Jews.’ The veiled threat was just the latest shocking statement from Piker, who has said that America deserved 9-11 and displays a picture of the attack on his wall during podcasts.” (08/25/26)
- The Airline Guide to Subjective Value
Source: The Daily Economy
by Per Bylund“A full refund may balance an airline’s books, but it doesn’t make a stranded passenger whole. The difference illustrates one of economics’ most important insights: value is subjective.” (08/25/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/the-airline-guide-to-subjective-value/
- John Roberts Biggest Con Man in US Politics
Source: The Progressive
by Bill Blum“There is no bigger con man in the United States than Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. Not even President Donald J. Trump. The con began in September 2005, during Roberts’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Articulate, handsome, and energetic at 50 years old, Roberts seemed to have been culled ‘straight from central casting’ …. Roberts was also convincing—he famously promised that if confirmed, he would serve in the fashion of a baseball umpire, calling only ‘balls and strikes, and not to pitch or bat’. Seventy-eight senators, including 22 Democrats, fell for the ploy and voted to give him the lifetime assignment. The biggest yarn Roberts told during his hearing concerned his views on the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA), a cornerstone of American democracy, which the Supreme Court gutted this past April in a redistricting case from the state of Louisiana (Louisiana v. Callais).” (08/25/26)
https://progressive.org/magazine/the-long-con-of-john-roberts-blum-20260821/
- Wilhelm Roepke’s Humane Economics
Source: Law and Liberty
by Ralph Ancil“Roepke was born near Hanover, Germany, in 1899. He died in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1966. After serving in World War I, he attended the University of Marburg and graduated in 1921, and later became one of the youngest professors in Germany; he served on the Brauns Commission of the Brüning administration to propose policies to deal with the growing unemployment crisis during the early days of the Great Depression. He actively opposed the National Socialists, and when Hitler was inaugurated as chancellor in January 1933, he left Germany, heading first for the Netherlands, and then finally to the University of Istanbul.” (08/25/26)
- Trump says he’s “the affordability president.” Sure he is.
Source: Washington Post
by Jim Geraghty“Don’t worry, America. As you lament the high cost of living, the president is here to protect you from the menace of … imported goods from Canada that he has decided are too cheap. … The self-described ‘affordability president’ keeps coming up with new ways to make goods more expensive.” (08/25/26)
- WHO’s High-Price Pandemic Plan
Source: Brownstone Institute
by David Bell & Ramesh Thakur“The recent release of Anthony Fauci’s diaries, followed by his refusal to answer questions in an appearance before a US Senate committee by invoking the Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination 111 times, highlighted a stark divide in how the Covid pandemic was handled by public health authorities. … their private contemporaneous conversations confirm that even the top scientists were making decisions based on scientific uncertainty. Consequently, one of the key legacies of the public-private gap is growing distrust of official claims. That scepticism should extend to the future pandemic agenda. We rely on the World Health Organisation to coordinate among countries to prevent scourges such as pandemics reaching our shores, or at least mitigate their effects. In doing so, we must defer to an army of international bureaucrats who work in such institutions. A deference that relies on trust.” (08/25/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/whos-high-price-pandemic-plan/
- The $40 Trillion Debt, Oh My!
Source: CounterPunch
by Dean Baker“I have never been a deficit hawk, and I’m not about to change my religious affiliation now. But whatever we think of debt and deficits, there is one point that should be very clear: it has been run up almost entirely due to Republican tax cuts and their inept management of the economy. Every Democratic president of the last half century has left with a deficit that was lower, measured as a share of GDP, than the one they came in with, except Obama, who left it unchanged. By contrast, every Republican president has left with a considerably higher deficit than what they inherited.” [editor’s note: There have been no “tax cuts,” Republican or otherwise. If spending isn’t going down, taxes aren’t going down. Debt is just deferred payment of taxes – TLK] (08/25/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/08/24/the-40-trillion-debt-oh-my/
- Brasília Makes Friends with Beijing
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Jake Scott“On a Sunday night in late July, Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and China’s Xi Jinping spoke for more than an hour. It was cordial and faintly triumphant, with the two governments announcing their intention to accelerate a long-stalled China–Mercosur trade agreement. Alongside this, there are plans to deepen cooperation on satellites and critical-minerals processing, and waive short-stay visa requirements. This marks a serious change for Brazil.” (08/25/26)
https://fee.org/articles/brasilia-makes-friends-with-beijing/
- Checks & Balances, 08/26/26
Source: Checks & Balances
“Yuval Levin joins Gregg Nunziata to discuss the Constitution, why institutions matter, and why AI may offer shortcuts but rob us of the process of formation.” (08/26/26)
https://chkbal.substack.com/p/congresss-core-role-is-negotiation
- Interview: Former Strikers Start Cooperative News Organization
Source: In These Times
by Maximillian Alvarez“When workers at the historic Pittsburgh Post-Gazette newspaper hit the picket line in October of 2022, they had no idea that they would be on strike for more than three years — or that the strike would end with new owners taking over the paper and most of the former strikers losing their jobs. But now, a new chapter is being written. This week, workers and community supporters launched the cooperative news organization, the Pittsburgh Progress, which aims to uplift the voices of working-class communities. Working People’s Maximillian Alvarez sat down with several former strikers at the Post-Gazette (now worker-owners of the Progress) to discuss what the birth of the Progress means for working people in and beyond Pittsburgh.” (08/25/26)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/former-strikers-start-cooperative-news-organization
- Reason Interview: Vinay Prasad
Source: Reason
“Vinay Prasad discusses his departure from the FDA, Fauci’s diaries, and how working for the government made him more libertarian.” (08/26/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/08/26/vinay-prasad-public-health-in-this-country-is-so-broken/
- The Headlines, 08/26/26
Source: New York Times
“Hegseth’s Army Purge, and Polling Chaos in the Midterms.” (08/26/26)
- Gracearchy with Jim Babka, episode 167
Source: Gracearchy with Jim Babka
“2nd Amendment Is About More Than Guns.” (08/25/26)
https://rumble.com/v7elh4o-2nd-amendment-is-about-more-than-guns-gracearchy-with-jim-babka-16x.html
- The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg, 08/26/26
Source: The Dispatch
“Linguists Are Nihilists | Interview: Colin Gorrie.” (08/26/26)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/remnant/linguists-are-nihilists-interview-colin-gorrie/
- Nonzero, 08/25/26
Source: bloggingheads.tv
“Demis Hassabis and the Quest for AGI | Robert Wright & Sebastian Mallaby.” (08/25/26)
- Reasonably Optimistic, 08/26/26
Source: Washington Post
“The hidden forces behind America’s baby bust.” (08/26/26)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/impromptu/the-hidden-forces-behind-americas-baby-bust/
- The Bryan Hyde Show, 08/25/26
Source: The Bryan Hyde Show
“Eric Peters from Eric Peters Autos joins me for our weekly conversation and we’re both quickly tiring of living under the watchful eye of big brother and his helpers. The excuse of ‘I’m not doing anything illegal’ is small comfort when the definition of illegal changes according to whomever is in power.” (08/25/26)
- LPA Solidarity Stream, episode 21
Source: LP Alliance
“David Beito, Phil Saunders, and their proposal for thinking outside the one-or-two-state paradigm.” (08/25/26)
- Rising, 08/25/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed appearing to distance himself from recent comments made by leftist streamer Hasan Piker.” (08/25/26)
- Ron Paul Liberty Report, 08/25/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“Tulsi Was Right On Iran. Trump Ignored Her.” (08/25/26)
- Trump Watch, 08/25/26
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“The Evil of Economic War on Iran.” (08/25/26)
https://www.fff.org/freedom-in-motion/video/trump-watch-the-evil-of-economic-war-on-iran/
- Politics Politics Politics, 08/25/26
Source: Politics Politics Politics
“Is Darlene Graham Already Done in South Carolina? US Hackers vs. Foreign Gangs (with Eric Geller).” (08/25/26)
https://www.politicspoliticspolitics.com/p/is-darlene-graham-already-done-in
- Tim Shorrock on The Scott Horton Show
Source: The Scott Horton Show
“Scott brings Tim Shorrock back on the show to dig into the latest developments between Trump and the leaders of both South Korea and North Korea.” (08/25/26)
- Capital Record, episode 317
Source: National Review
“Discovered, Not Imposed: Bond Yields and Government Intervention.” (08/25/26)
- The Dispatch Podcast, 08/25/26
Source: The Dispatch
“How The U.S. Racked Up Its $40 Trillion Debt.” (08/25/26)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/dispatch-podcast/how-the-u-s-racked-up-its-40-trillion-debt/
- The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 08/25/26
Source: The New Republic
“Krugman: Trump Just Revealed Extraordinary Contempt for MAGA Voters.” (08/25/26)
- Cato Podcast, 08/25/26
Source: Cato Institute
“Heller’s Sequel Has a New Weapon.” (08/25/26)
https://www.cato.org/multimedia/cato-podcast/hellers-sequel-has-new-weapon
- Advisory Opinions, 08/25/26
Source: The Dispatch
“Civility vs. Collegiality | Interview: Judges Tom Griffith and David Tatel.” (08/25/26)